HC Deb 04 June 1997 vol 295 c197W
Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the predicted dose level attributed to plutonium wastes in the HMIP report TR-Z2–9 Tyrer et al. 1995; and how this compared to the target levels set out in the Radioactive Waste Management Policy White Paper (Cm 2919). [1778]

Mr. Meacher

The maximum dose calculated in the report was 9 sieverts per year as a very unlikely worst case. But as no estimate of probability was made for the scenario producing this dose, it cannot be compared with the target of a one in a million per year risk of developing a fatal cancer or serious hereditary defect, set out in the White Paper, "Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy" (Cm 2919).

In undertaking this work, HMIP rehearsed some of the procedures and methods which it might need to apply in detailed examination of modelling studies underlying a post-closure safety case for a radioactive waste repository. The studies were not designed to inform HMIP about the suitability of a particular site for the development of a repository.

Mr. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the level of plutonium contamination in the plutonium contaminated wastes which would be produced by the Sellafield MOX plant. [1798]

Mr. Meacher

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has made no estimate of his own. I am informed that the operation of the Sellafield MOX plant would be likely to give rise to some 120 cubic metres of plutonium contaminated material (defined as solid waste containing more than 0.1 gigabecquerels per tonne of plutonium) per year.